Tarneck

Tarneck is the sheep-ranked High Guardian who oversees the Cave of Yaanek and leads the Bureau's attempt to recover Laplace and stop Yeon-woo.

Biography

A lead Bridgehead meets an unmanageable prisoner

Tarneck receives Yeon-woo as the Cave of Yaanek's lead Bridgehead, expecting the Bureau's seals and surveillance to contain even the Martial King's disciple. When Ohn fails to take the prisoner by force, Tarneck recognizes that the incident exceeds routine discipline and increases pressure around the cave. Yeon-woo nevertheless reaches the Demonic Sea and obtains the Tutorial ticket, converting Tarneck's custodial problem into a pursuit that threatens the Bureau's authority and the High Guardian's pride. (Chapters 463–466, 481)

Pursuit beyond the system breaks the pursuer

Tarneck opens a spatial vortex and releases his Demon King form to drag the fugitives back, accepting causality costs that Director Klus promises to cover. The Demonic Sea drains system-dependent Guardians, however, and the struggle pushes Tarneck beyond the support Klus can provide. Laplace's awakening and the hostile terrain destroy the Chase Team's advantage; the Bureau initially removes Tarneck from its directory, while a later account clarifies that he survived with severe injuries rather than returning to active duty. (Chapters 477–483, 632)

Appearance and personality

Tarneck stands at least three meters tall, with copper-brown skin and two mountain-goat horns rising from his brow. His sheep designation contrasts with a threatening demonic body whose horns and hooves belong to a former conqueror. (Chapter 463)

He is authoritative, proud, and quick to treat resistance as a personal challenge. Tarneck respects the competence of reliable subordinates, but urgency narrows his judgment: he pursues without fully briefing the team and continues exceeding safe causality limits rather than abandon Laplace and Yeon-woo. (Chapters 466, 477–483)

Abilities and powers

Demon King form and spatial pursuit

Tarneck can discard his restrained Guardian appearance for the immense devil form he used while conquering dimensions. He tears open space, creates powerful vortices, and attempts an inversion of causation to pull targets across the boundary. These effects require major causal expenditure and system support; when Klus's allowance is exceeded, cracks spread through Tarneck and threaten permanent damage to his level. (Chapters 477–482)

Bureau authority and its environmental limit

As a High Guardian and Bridgehead, Tarneck uses seals, agents, and the Tower's system to police suspended players. That dependence becomes a weakness in the Demonic Sea, an otherworld environment where the system's order loses influence and Guardian power drains away. His latest condition—severe injury after the failed pursuit—shows that system restoration cannot simply erase damage sustained beyond its effective reach. (Chapters 463–477, 632)

Relationships

• Laplace: Tarneck pursues Laplace as a Bureau defector, but Laplace's awakening in the Demonic Sea reverses the Chase Team's advantage. (Chapters 477–483)
• Yeon-woo: Yeon-woo turns a planned suspension into an escape that forces Tarneck into a ruinously expensive pursuit. (Chapters 463–483)
• Vampiric Lord: Bathory's power inside the Demonic Sea helps split Tarneck's attention between threats to his incarnation and true body. (Chapters 477–482)
• Klus: Klus authorizes the causality Tarneck spends, but cannot sustain the cost once the pursuit exceeds the Bureau's limits. (Chapters 477–483)

Items

None. No item in the finalized notable-item roster is assigned to Tarneck.